Senate Dems Launch Preemptive Strike for Health Care

Senate Democratic leadership reached out to senior citizens on Monday, in a pre-emptive strike on Republican efforts to repeal the sweeping health care law passed last year.

In a letter to incoming House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and top Democratic leaders vowed to defend the measure that plugs the so-called Medicare doughnut hole. The new Medicare Part D provision is designed to help millions of seniors cover the costs of their prescription drugs. It took effect on Jan. 1, earlier than other parts of the new health care law.

New House Members Hope To Turnover Health Care Law

WASHINGTON — Soon after the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, Republicans in the House plan to make good on a campaign promise that helped vault many new members to victory: voting to repeal President Obama’s health care overhaul.

The vote, which Republican leaders pledged would occur before the president’s State of the Union address later this month, is intended both to appeal to the Tea Party-influenced factions of the House Republican base and to emphasize the muscle of the new party in power. But it could also produce an unintended consequence: a chance for Democrats once again to try their case in support of the health care overhaul before the American public. To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/us/politics/03repubs.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=health%20care&st=cse